Personal testimonies show how the SportsLeader program can transform lives and teams.

A moment during Pat McCaskey's talk at the Chicago Bears headquarters.

February 23, 2010. Lake Forest, IL. On February 20, a
SportsLeader presentation was held at Halas Hall, the Chicago Bears
headquarters. Bears owners Virginia and Patrick McCaskey attended, along with
a total of 60 participants, including about 40 coaches. The
coaches came from 14 different programs from the Chicago area,
including Catholic and public school sports teams, and a few
sports leagues.

The goal of the presentation was to
continue training new coaches to implement the SportsLeader program. Mike
Cemeno, a SportsLeader promoter; Dr. Tom Nelson, an assistant varsity
football coach at Nazareth Academy High School; and Fr Jacob
DuMont, LC, organized the conference.

Men with an ideal
and a vision

The lineup of speakers included Pat McCaskey, the
owner of the Chicago Bears. In his talk, he described
George Halas, the founder of the Chicago Bears, as a
man of faith and virtue who wanted the men on
the team to be virtuous and upright.

Dean Hood, the head
football coach at Eastern Kentucky University, spoke about how SportsLeader
has helped support the character development program that he had
already instituted with his teams in the past. He commented
that he is constantly looking for new ways to help
his young men with team building activities, voluntary prayer, and
even a voluntary program called Song of Solomon, which is
an optional Theology of the Body course for this football
players. He commented that about 27 came to the program
last year, with an even greater turnout expected this year.

Coach

A view of the auditorium of coaches during the SportsLeader presentations.

Joe Reynolds, the head sophomore coach at Nazareth Academy, gave
a personal testimony about how he was transformed by volunteering
at a soup kitchen and returning to Mass after 25
years. In that context, he described how he rolled out
the SportsLeader program at Nazareth with great success.

Coach Dr. Tom
Nelson also spoke about starting SportsLeader at Nazareth Academy, describing
the steps, obstacles, and personal fruits he saw as an
assistant sophomore coach.

Finally, Mike Williams, a graduating senior linebacker from
Nazareth Academy, gave a personal testimony about how his SportsLeader
coaches met him where he was at and lifted him
up when he most needed a helping hand. His testimony
can be viewed on the SportsLeader blogspot at this link.

After the presentations Pat McCaskey took all of
the coaches on a tour of the Halas Hall facilities
including the weight training and therapy rooms.